Haunt Me
by Isis Lied
Summary: "No one lives forever and the devil never sleeps alone"- Shima, Izumo. Spoilers up to Chapter 55 of the manga. Speculative fic.


Haunt Me  
Summary: "No one lives forever and the devil never sleeps alone"- Shima, Izumo. Spoilers up to Chapter 55 of the manga. Speculative fic.

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It's surprising that the boy even has a grave.

(No, not really, the miko thinks, smoothing out the black fabric of her dress. It's surprising there's even a body to be buried)

It's located where all dead exorcists go, in the cemetery that stretches just along the border of True Cross. The lush landscape is peppered in crosses and marble angels; Shima's tombstone lies unremarkably beside the towering divinity.

He was allotted a meager plot of soil, resting with others (heroes, leaders, comrades) of the Order.

(Izumo's lips curl into a bitter smile. There's something almost sacrilege having a liar buried beside those of great faith and virtue. It was almost as ridiculous as a demon becoming an exorcist)

There isn't some fancy epitaph etched into the face of the stone. Just his name, date of birth, and his inevitable death. But the blankness of the stone speaks louder than if the word TRAITOR had been chiseled beside his name.

The purple-haired girl imagines that LIAR and BASTARD could also fit just as well, but talking poorly of the dead made for a bad habit. Still... the girl clenched the tiny plush fox to her chest; it felt as if the boy hadn't really paid for his crimes.

For a moment, the white-washed walls of the organization exploded in her eyes, causing an involuntary shiver to wrack her frame.

_Uke, Mike...  
_  
Taking a deep breath, the pigtailed girl clenches her empty fist hard enough that crescent marks appear pink and irritated in her skin. The pain steels herself in the present and she returns her champagne eyes to the plain tombstone in front of her.

There had been no funeral. Not really, anyway. Just a group of 'friends' (the word makes bile rise in her throat) and family that all stared blankly at the tombstone. There were a few people who cried (Konekomaru and Shiemi, respectively), others who looked angry, and then those who showed no outward emotion. Shima's brothers were the only ones to show to the funeral; his parents couldn't bear to visit the grave of their prodigal son.

(Prodigal because he did return— in a body bag)

There weren't even any funeral rites. His coffin was just tossed into the shallow grave, buried, and left. Left by everyone who had once called him friend.

Except for her. She remained long after the service. Izumo Kamiki, the woman who killed him. Perhaps there was some irony in her being there (the thought is bitter on her tongue, like lukewarm coffee), but she cannot tear her eyes from the plot of land.

"I hate you." She whispers out through clenched teeth, feeling the same anger that had threatened to consumer her before. But she isn't the same, terrified girl who found herself locked away in the Illuminati base waiting to be sentenced to a premature death. She is stronger now, and the kyubi inside of her only howled pitifully, wishing to be let out again.

Funny, how they thought the kyubi would simply play along. In the end, the demon had saved her— damned her, in one foul swoop of claws and gnashing teeth. The fox demon fed on emotion, on anger and hate and despair, and the girl had no shortage of the raw, hot repulsion that led her viciously through the tiled passageways in search of the man who fueled her rage.

She had bared her teeth at him, growled and lunged at the boy in a fluid blur of violet and nightshade. Through slanted eyes and black sclera the girl attacked, every ounce of her will going into destroying the pink-haired traitor. The fight lasted only a few moments as the possessed miko bit through his neck, hot spurts of blood flooding her mouth to pool against her tongue. She spat out the chucks of flesh, feeling the ache of her claws and fangs. It wasn't enough.

It would never be enough. He had ruined her. Killed her familiars. Crushed any semblance of hope that she had in the group of cram school kids (that maybe, just maybe, she could trust people). Renzou Shima deserved a thousand deaths— not a single one that was over in a pretty flash of crimson and scarlet.

"I hate you." She says again, once the memories from the organization ebb away. She hates him for taking away her happiness. She hates him for all his _Izumo-chan's~ _and the ridiculous ways that he tried flirting with her or Moriyama. She hates him for his lies the most, she thinks, even more than for betraying her—betraying everyone. And she wants him to talk, to defend himself from her onslaught of curses. She doesn't know why he became a traitor and the reason will probably haunt her as long as his smile.

There is, of course, no answer. The dead don't talk. And even if they did, she doubted they'd talk to the person who murdered them. But she sits beside the grave anyway, smothering out the folds of her black dress. Pressing her back against the stone slab, she looks down, imagining the coffin under her.

"Goodnight, Renzou." She says finally, pressing a warm hand to the ground under her.

"'_Night, Izumo-chan~!" _She can almost hear ringing out from below.

"You should be mad at me. I killed you." She says before she can stop herself. It isn't Shima talking; he's dead, dead because of her and she hates him, hates him—

"I could never be mad at you." She hears his laugh, boyish and cold. And dead.

Her lips quirk up in a smile as she stands, dusting off the soil from the velvet fabric.

"I know you're lying— but thanks, anyway."

The girl leaves, the ghost of her deeds following right after. She wonders how long he'll haunt her, the pink-haired boy with a scar on his left temple and lies coated on his tongue.

She imagines it will be as long as the name _Renzou Shima_ brings up the image of a ghost.

(But you never really forget the name of the first human you kill)

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_no one lives forever and the devil never sleeps alone..._

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A/N: Ta… da…? I don't really know how I feel about this oneshot, but here it is anyway! I don't think Izumo will actually kill Shima (this is ANE, after all), but I wanted something angsty for the pair. So, yah ^^' Here's to some Shima and Izumo angst in the future, lol XD

Summary of story from the song _The Devil Never Sleeps_ by Iron and Wine (a song that makes me think of Shima)

_**Review? **_

-Isis


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